Tag Archives: patience

Redeeming Your Commute

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I spend a lot of time in my car.  Working downtown, it takes me 55 minutes to get from my garage to my desk.  Sometimes it takes longer.  When the kids are in school, it includes 30 minutes with them and 30-40 minutes alone.  That’s a lot of time each way!

So, about two years ago, I started a quest to redeem that time for the glory of God!  Especially the morning commute, which can really determine the trajectory of the day overall!  As the saying goes, “The morning hours have gold in them!”  But, you really have to try to find the gold if you’re like me!  (I am a bit of a night owl and need to be left alone until about 10 am!)

Here are a few things that have helped us make use of the time when the kids are commuting:

  • My children are ages four and eight, so we use that time to review spelling words and talk about what we will do after school.
  • We pray together aloud.  Continue reading →

The Seemingly Unlovable Somebody

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People can be hard work. There’s a reason loving them ranks in God’s top two. The challenge comes when you encounter people who repeatedly push you beyond what you believe is lovingly possible.

What are you to do?

Rejoice.

Oh how blessed and fortunate when God shows up and confronts the limits of our love with the endlessness of His. What a day of liberation when He miraculously resets our capacity so we can love a seemingly unlovable somebody. Praise God that because of Jesus Christ, God loves beyond all that is unlovable in us. It’s extraordinary to consider we can reflect love with the length, depth, width, and height of His.

Open your heart.

You can do this – open your heart to the Truth. By the power of the Holy Spirit you have all you need to accomplish what God commands. What’s causing you to shut down when you’re around certain people? Be as specific as you can. Discover exactly what the enemy is using to trip you up and take a stand against it!

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ~ Matthew 5:46-48

Let grace flow – freely. Continue reading →

Settled

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“…they set out…to go to Canaan.  But…they settled there (in Haran.”)   Gen. 11:31 

The word settle is an intriguing word.   Its meaning is determined by the context in which it is used.

Terah’s plan was to leave Ur and journey with his family to Canaan.  Along the way that plan changed and he stopped at Haran….and there he “settled.”  (The LORD later spoke to Terah’s son, Abram, and led him on into Canaan.) How many times do we set out to do something and along the way settle for something different–  less than—short of the plan?   

Early in our marriage, my husband was transferred to another state.  We were provided a four-day weekend to find a house and purchase it.  With two young children in tow, we found a real estate agent and set out in search of the perfect house.  After all, we had prayed about it before embarking on this mission, so of course it would be perfect.  Right?  Well, somewhere along the path of house hunting…somewhere between the perfect house (but just taken off the market) and the house that didn’t quite feel  like home…we “settled” for a house.  We provided the required earnest money and headed back.   About one hour into the four hour trip, between Maryville and Prattville, we started sharing our uneasiness about the transaction.  Soon we both realized the restlessness we were experiencing was from the Holy Spirit.  Feeling pressured by lack of time, we had made the decision without inquiring of the LORD for His direction.  When we finally prayed, we understood that we were out of the LORD’s will and had to make the correction, at whatever cost it might be.

Arriving home, Sherman called the real estate agent and told him we had made a mistake and did not believe this was God’s will for us.  The agent informed us that we would of course loose our five hundred dollar deposit…to which we gladly agreed.  A small price to pay for peace of heart and mind.  Two weeks later, returning home from visiting friends, we found a note from our local realtor stating our current home had an “offer” on it.  Without our knowledge, the realtor had requested five hundred dollars more than we originally agreed upon, and the buyers  agreed!  God’s mercy demonstrated!  By the way, we ended up moving  into an apartment in TN, where we lived a year before finding the “perfect home.”    That perfect home was the same one we had originally seen…but we had to wait for it, in God’s timing, to become available again.   So sometimes “to settle” can be from lack of direction.  

Sometimes to settle is actually part of God’s plan and timing…a time to settle down and relax as in 1 Peter 5:10 TAB  “The God of all grace…will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen and settle you.” (emphasis added) So how do we know the difference?  Do we settle for something instead of being settled down to trust Him?  Psalm 31:14-15 declares a truth that we can “go to the bank on”…   “I trust in You, O LORD.  I say, You are my God.  My times are in Your hands.”   How have you been settled down by the LORD? Or…settled for less than His plan? Got a verse to share?

All for His Glory!
 Nancy

“I have put my hope in Your Word.”  Psalm 119:74